Blockstream CEO Adam Back responded to renewed attention around the company after newly unsealed Jeffrey Epstein documents emerged as part of a large US Department of Justice disclosure.<\/p>\n
In a public clarification, Back said Blockstream has no ongoing or historical financial relationship with the convicted sex offender.<\/p>\n
Back asserted<\/a> that any contact occurred briefly during the company\u2019s seed fundraising in 2014 and ended shortly afterward. He explained that Blockstream was introduced to Joi Ito, then director of the MIT Media Lab, during its early investor roadshow. Through Ito, the company met Epstein, who was presented at the time as a limited partner in Ito\u2019s investment fund.<\/p>\n That fund later acquired a small minority stake in Blockstream but divested within months, citing potential conflicts of interest and other concerns. Back said that Blockstream never received capital directly from Epstein and has had no direct or indirect ties to him or his estate since.<\/p>\n The statement comes as the DOJ continues publishing millions of pages of Epstein-related materials under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. A new batch was released on January 30. The documents name several prominent figures from technology, finance, and politics, though the DOJ has noted that inclusion in the records does not, on its own, indicate wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Among the newly unsealed material are 2014 emails in which Blockstream co-founder Austin Hill discussed<\/a> the company\u2019s oversubscribed seed round with Ito and Epstein, as well as travel booking correspondence referencing St. Thomas, an island near Epstein\u2019s private compound. So far, no allegations have been made against Blockstream or its executives, but those references have drawn<\/a> scrutiny.<\/p>\n The disclosures also revealed<\/a> Epstein\u2019s interest in cryptocurrency, including private discussions about Bitcoin\u2019s role and criticism of blockchain projects such as Ripple and Stellar, alongside later attempts to pitch new digital currency concepts. Other prominent industry figures, including Trump\u2019s pick for Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, are also mentioned in the files.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, new Epstein-related records published by the DOJ on January 31 include a 2010 email from American entertainment publicist Peggy Siegal surfaced, mentioning<\/a> Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor. The email said Saylor donated $25,000 to a charity event, which helped him receive invitations to exclusive social events. Siegal described him as difficult to talk to, socially awkward, a \u201ccomplete creep\u201d, and \u201csort of like a zombie on a drug.\u201d<\/p>\n Swissblock\u2019s Head Macro Economist Henrik Zeberg said<\/a> that anyone who visited Epstein\u2019s private island after his 2008 conviction bears moral responsibility. Zeberg tweeted,<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t care if you are a Politician or which Political Party you belong to. I don\u2019t care whether you are a CEO of a FAANG company. I don\u2019t care if you are a Billionaire. I don\u2019t care if you are Royal \u2013 or a former US President. In fact, if you are any of the above, you have an even greater responsibility to act morally correct.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Blockstream\u2019s Adam Back Addresses Epstein Links as DOJ Releases New Files<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blockstream CEO Adam Back responded to renewed attention around the company after newly unsealed Jeffrey Epstein documents emerged as part of a large US Department of Justice disclosure. In a public clarification, Back said Blockstream has no ongoing or historical financial relationship with the convicted sex offender. Blockstream Says No Epstein Ties Back asserted that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":131833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/131833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Interest in Bitcoin and Elite Circles<\/h2>\n